


Lullaby

by Lassarina



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Fort Drakon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 18:58:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12282477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lassarina/pseuds/Lassarina
Summary: Leliana rescues Elissa from Fort Drakon, and shares a private moment with her afterwards.





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ember_Keelty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ember_Keelty/gifts).



Buildings often have a song. The rickety houses of the Alienage are the mourning of the elves, threaded through with a counter-melody of hope. The Royal Palace in Denerim is a solid, martial theme as befits a king's seat. Marjolaine's estate in Orlais was the delicate trill of a flute, backed by weeping violins and the hidden thread of a harp. The Chantry in Lothering was the soft, sleepy ramble of a folk song, meandering over the hills.

Fort Drakon is a dirge, the sorrow of defeat and the steady beat of the army's marching feet without any of the pride that should characterize that. It is not for cleansing the soul, this dirge, not for scouring away the crusts of grief, but to warn others that death comes for them, too.

Perhaps she mishears, because she has judged it harshly for its part in imprisoning Elissa.

The dog, Gwydion, huffs and shoves his nose in her hand, and she gives him a subtle stroke before the captain comes to let them past the guards. She had to fight to hide her smile when the dog expressed his opinions to get them in, but she cannot doubt his devotion to his mistress.

The dirge grows increasingly dissonant as they descend through the fort, as she patiently talks the guard into leaving by praising her reliability, instead of relying on her own bow and arrow to solve the problem. She prefers non-violent solutions, but the need to _hurry_ thrums across her nerves. She knows what they do to traitors—she has lived it—and she cannot bear the thought of Elissa under those harsh ministrations. Still, to start a fight now will make their exit harder, and she does not know what injuries Elissa might have, so better to go softly, no?

At last she reaches the cells. Elissa is in the third, and she is lying curled in the corner, her arms wrapped around herself as though to shield against more blows. It's a moment's work to pick the lock and let herself into the cell. "Elissa," she whispers. Beside her, Gwydion strains with eagerness to go to his mistress and whines when Leliana lays her hand on his neck to hold him back, but he obeys.

The tension in Elissa's body says she is awake, but she does not answer. "It's me," she whispers. "I'm here to help you."

Elissa lifts her head slightly and opens one hazel eye. The other is swollen shut. Leliana waits until Elissa has fully focused on her, and recognizes her as a friend, before she offers the healing potion she brought along. She will need more than that, but it will do for a start.

Elissa studies the potion as though she thinks it might be a poison, and lifts her eyes to Leliana's. "Who raised you?" She asks, her words slurred by the swollen lip.

Leliana understands. She would distrust a rescuer too. "Lady Cecilie," she says softly.

Elissa's hands shake as she wrestles the stopper out of the bottle and tips it to her lips, but the tremors ease as the potion takes effect. Gwydion bunches his muscles and leans forward, straining against the command, until Leliana lifts her hand and he bumps his nose softly against Elissa's hand. She strokes him out of habit, and some of the tension in her eases. From what Leliana can see, it seems they beat Elissa but no worse than that, Maker be praised.

Leliana waits until Elissa is fully focused on her before she speaks again, as she might to a wounded animal. "We should go, as quickly as you are able. It would not do to be caught again, no?"

"No," Elissa agrees, and struggles to her feet. She hisses when she takes the first step, but waves away Leliana's offered hand.

They find Elissa's daggers and armor in a storeroom down the hall, with bits of cloth affixed to say which soldier claimed them. Leliana enjoys stripping those tokens away and helping Elissa with the straps; let them not keep any benefit from this.

Gwydion warns them twice of patrols passing too close, but they make it out of Fort Drakon without a fight, and from there it is simple enough to return to Bann Teagan's estate. Everyone swarms them immediately, of course; Leliana scolds them all away and bundles Elissa into a chamber to rest. Gwydion settles outside the door as their guardian, and Leliana sighs quietly in relief as she closes it.

Elissa is standing in the center of the room, staring at nothing, her eyes glassy and her skin pale beneath the sun-weathering. Leliana takes care to make her footfalls loud, rather than the quiet that comes more naturally to her, as she approaches.

"Do you need food? Wine? Rest?"

"I don't…know." Elissa runs a hand over her face. "How long…?"

"Half a day." Leliana hesitates. "I have more potions, or if you need something else…." She does not know how to ask. Her own memories of her treatment in Orlais are too close to the surface now.

"A bath," Elissa says.

Leliana rings for the servant, and soon the copper tub is filled with steaming water. She helps Elissa strip off the armor while the servants work. When they are alone again, she steps back, but Elissa catches her hand, throat working with words she cannot say, and Leliana nods.

Elissa strips and Leliana watches discreetly, but all the bruises she sees are those that would come from beatings with fists and sticks, Maker be praised. Elissa steps into the water and sinks down with a soft sigh, and Leliana kneels behind her to unbraid her hair. Silence settles around them, uneasy and brittle, as Leliana works the soap in and rinses it away.

"It felt longer," Elissa says at last, so softly Leliana nearly misses it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Leliana keeps her voice low and even, and stays behind Elissa, though she wishes she could see her expressions. She thinks the privacy is more important now—strange to say, when Elissa is in the bath, and yet it is true.

"No," Elissa says. But her hand comes up to squeeze Leliana's. "I will be all right. No worse than I've taken in a fight."

Leliana searches through the layers of tone and words, seeking truth or lie, not because she disbelieves Elissa but because she knows that Elissa feels the need to be invulnerable, to lead from the front with calm resolve, and that she will do whatever she must to keep their group on their feet, whatever it costs her. She finds only honesty, and that is a relief.

"What can I do?" Leliana asks instead.

Elissa is quiet for so long that Leliana wonders if she has fallen asleep in the hot water, but at last she stirs, making the water ripple. "When we're done here, sing me a song?"

"Any song you like," Leliana assures her, and steps back so Elissa can finish bathing.

When Elissa has emerged from the bath, pink from the heat, and dried off and dressed herself, Leliana sits cross-legged on the bed. "What shall I sing?"

Elissa hesitates, and uses the action of climbing into the bed to cover it. "The story you told me—Alindra and her soldier. Is there a song?"

Leliana might have expected her to ask for something comforting, but no, Elissa looks head-on at things that are sad. "Of course," she says, and picks up the tune easily enough. There is a long version favored in Orlais, and it is this that Leliana chooses.

She means it to soothe, to coax Elissa into true rest so that she can recover, and for the first three verses it seems to work. Elissa lies curled on her side, one hand under her cheek, her eyes closed as she listens. After the third verse, she reaches out her free hand and rests it on Leliana's knee. Leliana covers it with one of her own.

It is midway through the fourth verse that she realizes Elissa's hand is subtly sliding up her leg, and she falters. Elissa opens her eyes halfway, and smiles. "Will you stop, then?" There is a knowing curve to that smile, and an invitation to the kind of subtle game Elissa likes, and Leliana's heart beats faster at the realization.

She picks up where she left off, and focuses intensely on her breath and the notes, even as Elissa's hand slides up her side in meandering patterns, not quite tickling, but raising tingles of awareness all over her. She wishes now that she had not picked such a long song, but Elissa smiles as she teases, and it makes Leliana glad that her love can still feel playful, even as she knows that this game is in part a way for Elissa to regain a sense of control.

By the last third of the song, Leliana has to breathe in often enough that her instructors would have rapped her knuckles for it, and Elissa is wrapped warm around her, lips brushing softly at the side of Leliana's throat, and their clothes have long since fallen away. Leliana turns her head, seeking a kiss, and Elissa pulls smoothly away, her clever hands still roaming. Leliana would curse, but she needs breath for singing, for every time she falters, Elissa's hands stop.

Three verses left, and Elissa's hands are merciless, busy everywhere even as her mouth is sweet on Leliana's skin. Leliana makes herself keep the tempo even as her pitch falters, and hears Elissa's pleased murmur against her ear.

When she finishes the last note of the last verse, she twists toward Elissa, and can't even get the half-formed plea out before Elissa's mouth is hot on hers, and Elissa's hands are focused and clever, and Elissa tugs her down onto the pillows and rewards her most thoroughly.

They curl together afterward, and Leliana strokes Elissa's hair. "Thank you," Elissa murmurs, half-asleep.

"For what?" Leliana asks.

"The rescue, and the after." Elissa leans up to kiss Leliana's cheek. "What would I do without you?"

"Lucky we don't have to know that, no?" Leliana answers, and watches until Elissa truly rests.


End file.
